market. why not what's really happening to the global economy with mike's culture the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. is a report on our. very question the sudden resignation of pope benedict the sixteenth shock waves reverberate throughout the catholic world. french in mali and forces reclaim the city we bring you a firsthand account from the city after a surprise attack by militants on the spoils french claims of a victorious campaign. and eighteen coal miners died in an underground blast in russia's economy republic the rescue is still looking for one

possible survivor. twelve news as it happens twenty four hours a day you're watching our character. the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing his old age the eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries but let's get more on this now from artist who joins us live now in the studio tom tell us more about this extraordinary unexpected announcement it really is extraordinary kerry has come as a real shock to all of the journalists and people who regularly watch the activities of the pope in rome none of those of them predicted it as well this sudden announcement a lot is now a spy. q.

lation as to whether this decision was in the in the making in the planning for some time now those details slowly coming out or one polish newspaper has said that they dug out a quote supposedly from benedict sixteenth back in one thousand nine hundred four when he said that there's no such thing as a pope in retirement and now it seems obviously he's gone through some kind of change of mind perhaps the difficulties of the job it must be noted he was one of the oldest pope selected when john paul the second died in two thousand and five he's gone through a very difficult time misspoke a lot of scandal surrounding the church and the announcement that came out today as he said it i no longer have the mental and physical strength to continue the very very strenuous duties that it can be for an old man. to represent the church in all

its dealings his officials in the vatican who said they are now trying to find a new pope and to do that as quickly as possible they hope that will happen before easter but really a very very surprising announcement today from pope it is tom thank you for that update and so will be talking to our correspondent peter out of germany about this extraordinary resignation. well for now let's talk to director of the national secular society keith porteous word thanks for joining us here on r.t. today now well the reputation of the catholic church has been marred as not by various scandals recently but where there are any positives from pope benedict sixteenth tenure do you think. well sadly not because there were two major issues as really been mentioned child abuse and i think the dark triangle side has been an absolute catastrophe for the church it's actually lost. its authority

in many parts of the world when you say that you're going to. oppose politicians trying to bring in say same sex marriage laws and you invest or your authority on that and then you lose as if as effectively happened in those important catholic countries like spain portugal brazil. and about to happen indeed in england and scotland in france then you actually lose the your authority it's more than just losing the fight so that's been a catastrophe for the church and church attendance has declined it in amazing rate and i think the child abuse scandal has been something that pope benedict has never recovered from he's been involved in it personally through the c.d.f. prefecture for twenty five years and in fact he's brought more into the vatican and tried to cover it up more and more and more so i think his his papacy will

be seen as a major setback and a very bad papacy for the church usec a task to feed the vatican though says a new catholic church leader will be elected by the end of march who do you think is most likely successor and it's early but who do you think. now i really don't know enough about the internal side of the vatican but wash out what worries me terribly is that the it's quite clear that. he has been packing the college of cardinals with extremely conservative people so as indeed his predecessor did and so that the church will continue its relentless lurch to the right. which is sickening a loss of the catholics themselves they're abandoning the church at an amazing rate

and in britain we found the less than half of the. more than half of the m.p.'s who were actually voting in favor of same sex marriage so it's catholics themselves that just cannot take this hard doctrine on issues like homosexuality abortion contraception that their own church is an embarrassment to them could it now then be time to look outside of europe in the search for a new pope then for a fresh start as it were. i think it matters less where the candidate comes from. than what their basic position is going to be on these. mainly sexual issues and on child abuse because the church is really never faced up to that it's still keeping everything secret and trying to pay the minimum in compensation and the united nations even has said that that just isn't

acceptable any longer. for national second society portis what types of those thoughts today here in our team. pleasure. of course we'll have more on that from our correspondent artie's arpita oliver in a few minutes time other news now french and malian troops have regained control the after is the most militant slaughter surprise attack what is in northern mali is most populous city authorities say three civilians were killed during sunday's fighting but it comes after recent claims by france that the military campaign is almost complete and as local correspondent gonzalo want to reports the joint forces are struggling to produce a cure the region still occupied by insurgents. the situation in mali is obviously going to have gruesome and there are more than enough indications of last friday the country was shaken by the very first terrorist attack in its history according to the witness report but it was carried out by

a fifteen year old suicide bomber in that arab descent the bomber was the only one killed after the detonation a few hours later responsibility for the attack that was claimed by the measure was a jihadist one thing to remember here is that this is a bastard is a territory and therefore it is very difficult to control this attack is just another example confirming that despite the news reports of the french army having taken over gal timbuktu into doubt there is still a long way to go before jihadists are ousted from the country at least not in severe artie's crew was given access to the civil defense camps and were volunteers and civilians are preparing to fight against the jihadists and the n.f.l. and they all go down to core a local government militia movements that account for a total of two thousand eight hundred operatives but do not support the strategy chosen by the french in mali and joined forces in fighting the terrorists completely share the same goals so what they did was a really bad service to us there was no really about the army itself al-qaeda had

been operating on mali and territory for a number of years now they have all this and they keep getting more by kidnapping white people for ransom insurance pays them to have their citizens returned and then the terrorists have cash to buy weapons and if you talk about al qaeda there's no way the army can fight it because that she it's terrorism in action going to find out is that those paramilitary who know the terrain well say by the million or they cannot take part in that is meaningless one thing all these paramilitary groups have been at home and that's what is their patriotism and zeal to protect their country get in there and drive away the narco terrorists but this is a losing fight well enough to have given the financial resources and ammunition start they have. put out. but i am ready to go it all lengths i'm raised to give my life right now to save my family up there in the north because we're all here have families i believe france will stop these attacks for a while or and the french troops leave they will start all over again because the

criminals are still out there hiding them on the civilians not all of them have been caught really need to be given the mandate to complete this mission our own we're ready for it all that we can do it because we grew up in the north we know the terrain and the people so we're the only ones who can stop them but find them in the villages and the desert where we know every corner and every part of land. over all while the jihadist forces are taking over their land kidnapping people and using suicide bombers to fight for because the civilian population remains the country's most vulnerable at the root. of the ongoing modern conflict was among the topics artie's got a chicken discussed with russia's ambassador to the un the tally churkin one interview well there are eighteen forty five g.m.t. and he's also available for you anytime you like on our website r.t. dot com here's a preview. oh to put a question of arab spring was the dramatic events in libya. we're in the course of the crisis of course a lot of weapons were brought into libya and there was

a lot of there were lots of weapons of as it is but still many more weapons were brought into libya during the recent hearings which then secretary of state clinton had in the house of representatives one of the congressman said that they had information that cut out with a wink and nod as he put it from the united states brought in twenty thousand tons of weapons into libya and you know twenty thousand tons you can arm is small terrorist army and so on of course this is exactly what has happened in mali definitely we see a spillover from a believe in crisis to to a neighboring country and most likely if the spillover has affected other places as well for instance it may well be there are many indications to that effect that the terrorist attack. in the in the jury had something to do i mean close to the libyan border also had some sort of libyan connection in terms of people maybe weapons

terrorists emanating from libya participating in that attack. more tension in cholera as egypt supposition vows to bring supporters to the streets for mass rallies. since the fall of former president hosni mubarak stories after a short break. sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something

else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you. are welcome to the big picture. download the official. language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television. now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. eighteen people have been killed by me fane explosion in

a mine in russia's northern comique republic that's according to the emergency officials who also say one person is still missing. and eight hundred metres below the surface more than two hundred fifty miners were underground. has more. we know that at least two hundred forty two people have been evacuated from the mind immediately after the explosion that is the safety that created at one point there were several people who were missing looks like most of them have been recovered unfortunately i didn't that we also know that immediately already a program has been set up in order to help financially the families of those lost to their relatives in the blast and that compensation should be in the amount of about two million rubles and that is roughly sixty six thousand dollars. for the records of the last to the gas explosion in the mine you have to mention here that there has been no fire immediately following the blast and that could be said to be a fortunate thing because otherwise of course we'd be looking at

a death toll would be significantly higher there has been a criminal case launched also into the possible breach of security measures at the mine this is this is looking like the biggest in terms of death toll. mining accident over the past year in russia. but a top story now that of the coming resignation of sixteen used to step down at the end of the month when all of the joins us live now from peter you're in. the birthplace of the current reaction been like there. ok i think we've got a few technical difficulties there will come back to peter as soon as we can of course. move on to other stories now suicide rates are soaring in the u.k.

with money worries pushing many over the edge cuts to mental health services and aggressive debt collecting by experts says major factors aggravating the situation . one mother who lost her child to debt dispair. for the last year and a half thorn has been coming to terms with the tragic death of a son aged just twenty three toby took his own life riding his spinal words on the back of a bank statement after racking up a three thousand pound overdraft and a five thousand pounds student debt it was just the shock this wasn't from one but had a history of depression or mental illness or even had come across as being down or depressed you know in the last few weeks months of his life if anything he came across the someone that you know didn't have a care in the world following his death and became a trustee for the charity piracy which aims to prevent suicide among young people

from a home in cornwall she even runs her own blog giving advice but it's a battle her charity and similar ones around the u.k. are struggling to win suicide is on the increase according to latest figures accounting for six thousand deaths between twenty ten and twenty eleven a rise of seven percent so why the increase while an inquest ruled that toby's financial problems were written for a factor to his suicide experts now say that enabling u.k. economy is partly to blame for the recent deaths nationwide areas of high unemployment such as camden here in london are among those worst affected and it's a problem compounded by cutbacks in mental health services the double whammy effect of the recession is that people are becoming more distressed more anxious and therefore more at risk of wanting to take their own lives at the same time whether sterrett and cuts means that we have fewer psychiatric beds that the crisis care

isn't there and if that isn't enough the growth of same day loan companies and intimidating debt collectors are adding to the pressures people are feeling according to researchers at brighton university we have some very very good regulations that protect people. it's problematic thinks that it debt collection however is that big particularly well it's just because these practices do it in response the u.k. government has announced plans to crack down on aggressive bailiff's from next year late night visits will not be allowed and restrictions will be put on what property can be ceased they are also spending over a million pounds on research as part of a suicide strategy plan but that is only one very small step in the right direction for someone like can there's no easy answer i mean one thing i've learned more about thirty five than i ever wanted to know but i've done a lot of reading and rethought and i think strangely complex hopefully entirely the

trend will go down with what we need to be doing andrew farmer for r.t. london. while low go back to our teaser piece all over now regarding the resignation of pokemon at the sixteenth your in his home city country really where he was born what's the reaction been like very in germany. well germany has a large population of catholics particularly in the southern part of the country munich of course where as cardinal writes pope benedict was well that was his his home territory we've seen the chance german chancellor angela merkel appear on television to address the public to play pay tribute to benedict the sixteenth for all that he's done not just as a pontiff but also as a german pontiff saying that he brought together peoples of all faiths. across the

spectrum of of of the lid of religious communities also other senior politicians of being paying their tribute and it's not just here in germany of course across europe we've seen the president of france france warland come out and say it's the manner in which benedict has said i just can't continue anymore showed that he was a great dignity also in over in the united kingdom david cameron praising what the pontiff it done in order to bring more communication between the protestant church of england. and the sea over rome and the catholic church so the tributes have been pouring in not just from here in germany where. where pope benedict grew up where he was born and where he spent most of his ministry but also from around europe and in fact all around the world but despite all these tributes of course and his time at the vatican has been marred by a string of scandals hasn't it. well it's certainly not been an easy ride it's not been the longest papacy just under eight years but in that time the certainly being

plenty of drama no nice includes one of the one of the reasons that benedict said that he has to step down as he thought his age made him physically and in some cases mentally unable to deal with the everyday life of being the pope in the modern world one of the series of scandals that we've seen involve the so-called vatileaks similar to wiki leaks a series of documents that were distributed online but which well apparently showed a c.v. a series of shady dealings done by the vatican this type of thing of course not something your average eighty five year old has to deal with but they include some quite serious allegations including the fact that the vatican colluded with silvio berlusconi's government in italy to try and get pressure taken off the church of rome for paying taxes on properties which it own and there is also a list that was published of well less than savory clients for the vatican bank

which included some people alleged to be sicilian mafia bosses and of course one of the major scandals that is will be remembered for benedict's papacy concerns child abuse now in his previous job before he became pope he was essentially regarded as the john paul the seconds of papal bulldog he was the defender of the doctrine of full faith and not role he is accused of covering up sexual abuse scandals all around the world but also here in germany in fact in recent times there's been further controversy over this as the church here in germany canceled an investigation into child abuse is that range but the 1940's and stop that investigation apparently according to the man who. conducting it because they weren't happy with what would be made public so there's certainly been controversy

and it will be something that's picked over for a long time to come after benedict steps down at the end of this month and they don't show this will run round peter out of a thank you for now. we have more stories in the pictures for you on our website don't you don't come is a quick glimpse of what we have lined up for you there today china has overrun the rally in the u.s. behind me america's position of the world's biggest trading nation it held it was six decades for details and figures on our website. also also today you know for sure what you doing tomorrow if not the u.s. defense may be able to help they say they can now predict your future steps me just by collecting social network data but not more online. gyptian security forces are on high alert off the country's opposition announced

mass rallies to mark two years since the fall of former president hosni mubarak over a dozen parties have declared their intent to march on tahrir square and the presidential palace to step up pressure on county there mohamed morsi pro-democracy protesters there accusing president c.e.o. train of the revolution. kidnapping and this could repression several egyptian regions are currently in a state of emergency after deadly clashes erupted across the country and a verse of the rising tension spokesman. says creating a coalition government is the only way to quell the unrest. people are gonna go into the streets they are going on the streets willingly they don't really need any opposition calls for a new protest because the whole country is in a standstill there's nothing moving forward because there is no real administration at blessing the people's needs and the people demand the actual anger in the streets so the only solution that i can see and any sane person can see that the

opposition the brotherhood and all the different political factions to be in a quality of government that would be the only solution and the only way out because at that moment this government will take responsibility for any reform that's going to be as one of the happening in the country but the idea of just excluding everybody out of the government post revolution country in a country that's acting calling for democracy when there is no real parliament in session that can hold the president or the government accountable to the failures of administering the country and then refusing to have a quality of government that's just a call for chaos. more international news in brief for you now turkish media reports that at least seven people have been killed and dozens injured after a car bomb exploded at a crossing on the turkish syrian border expose's were reportedly packed into a car carrying humanitarian aid to those killed are said to be syrian nationals

dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene but the area has been a focus of violence in the west two year long battle between syrian rebels and government forces. the government and opposition in bahrain have launched reconciliation talks the first such meeting in two years. the reform campaign is a calling on the government to deal with police brutality and perceived discrimination. the opposition has cast doubts on the intentions of the talks or just a bluff to calm your arrest activists say there's too much power concentrated in the hands of the sunni monarchy. and in official has resigned following a deadly stampede at a row a station killed thirty six hindu programs reportedly occurred after well officials announced a last minute change of. plans of millions gathered on the banks of the ganges river to take a dip marking the religious festival held every twelve years. and

french authorities are to hold talks with key figures in the meat industry it comes as up to one hundred percent of horsemeat was discovered in products labeled as beef the u.k. sweden france the frozen meals were immediately pulled from shop chains as blame was cast upon meat suppliers who in turn denied the allegations for the eleven e.u. countries are feared to be involved in the scandal. coming up next a recap of the exporting highlights with kate partridge. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks books to feel at peace interviews intriguing story are you. trying all te arabic to find out more visit

arabic t.v. dot com. this is is trash to get rid of. but it's also a treasure. it's worth fighting for. and the trap was no way out.

hello welcome to the r t sports show with me kate partridge twenty six minutes of sporting action from russia and around the world coming off and these are the top stories. warm up on ice fabio capello remains unbeaten as national coach as russia beat iceland to nail in a friendly in spain ahead of next month's world cup qualifier in belfast. plus the europhiles russian's lies as a neat and routine return from their winter break and prepared to face big nine european opposition in the last thirty two of the europa league. and every second counts with a year to go russians across the country can join in the can down to such as clocks are one fails to usher in the nation's first ever winter games this. is football and fabio capello remains on beaten as the coach of russia as the national sign.